Brockton veteran was likable’ figure

Vietnam veteran Germantas Griazyde, who was originally from Lithuania, was found dead over the weekend in his Brockton apartment

Amy Carboneau And Alex Bloom

City veterans services officer David Farrell couldn’t pronounce the last name of Germantas Griazyde, so he came up with a nickname.

“I knew him affectionately as ‘Gigi,’” Farrell said Tuesday.

Farrell recalled the 70-year-old veteran, originally from Lithuania, who was found Saturday by police in a Brockton Housing Authority apartment about two weeks after his death.

“He was a character, like many of the veterans in the city,” Farrell said, “a unique individual and a very likeable guy.”

Called by a tenant to investigate an odor at the Manning Towers housing complex, police found Griazyde dead in his third-floor apartment Saturday night. They believe he died of natural causes, and his death may have occurred as long as two weeks ago.

BHA Executive Director Richard Sergi said Griazyde kept to himself and signs that he had died were hard to spot.

Multiple residents had complained to management for about two weeks of a “strong odor.”

Sergi said Tuesday that employees checked twice on the odor, first finding a dead mouse and then finding an odor coming out of the garbage chute.

Sergi said Griazyde paid his rent on time and residents and social workers may have expected him to be away receiving rehab for a recent surgery.

“That may have been why nobody missed him,” Sergi said.

Farrell, Brockton’s veterans officer, said he knew Griazyde almost four years, but thinks he has been around Brockton much longer. He would stop in about once a month to chat with Farrell.

“He was constantly walking about,” Farrell said.

Griazyde served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, said Farrell. Griazyde was an Air Force airman, A2, second class, and was discharged honorably.

Farrell said Griazyde will likely be buried at Bourne National Cemetery, with military honors.

“Three times in the course of the year where we would have had some contact with this gentleman, there were never any issues,” Sergi said.

“I think it was a very unusual circumstance,” Sergi said of the delay in finding his body.

For more information about Griazyde’s funeral arrangements, call 508-580-7850.